Elemental: Hollyleaf's Retelling
by Storm that Twists in Spiral
Summary: Let me be your hope, Hollyleaf had told Jayfeather. Here is the story of Hollyleaf: how she lived, how she died, and how she was reborn. Here is a story where there were five instead of four. Here is a story of shadows both light and dark. Here is Hollyleaf's retelling of the War of Shadows and the Great Five. Here is a story of Hollyleaf: the Cat Who Walked Between Worlds.
1. Chapter 1: Falling

**Hello! My name is Elsi, and this is the wonderful new project I'm starting - Hollyleaf's Retelling!**

**If you are new to the my work, this fic is part of my Elemental Universe, an AU deviating from _Fading Echoes_ and rewriting everything up to and after _The Last Hope_. This fic takes place over a period of like...three years? Something like that. I will always post the time period of the chapter and a corresponding chapter of Elemental to go along with it, if necessary. Usually, I try to make each Elemental fic stand on its own, but with Hollyleaf's Retelling, I'm fairly certain that is going to be impossible. So, I would highly advise getting caught up on Elemental before you read Hollyleaf's Retelling. When I say "caught up," I mean reading all of War of Shadows and Elemental Books 1, 2, and 3. You won't NEED any of that for the first couple of chapters, but later, there start to be spoilers. Essentially, I'm writing Hollyleaf's Retelling and The Final Step at the same time because they eventually spoil each other. Hollyleaf's Retelling will be the FINAL Elemental fic I finish (except Compilations, but I don't really count that). **

**That's all the warnings I have. PLEASE enjoy! I don't own Warriors, and I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't own the snippet from Hollyleaf's Story at the beginning of the chapter. Note - THE FIRST TWO PARAGRAPHS AREN'T WRITTEN BY ME. THEY ARE TAKEN FROM THE BOOK. They are there to give context as to when my story deviates from canon.**

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Chapter 1: Falling

_Her words seemed to echo from the walls of the tunnel. Hollyleaf wished she could go back to the start of the Gathering, take back the terrible truth she had spilled, spare her Clanmates the pain and shock she had seen in their faces. What have I done?_

_The constant dark was making her eyes ache. She had been searching for a chink of light for so long that she imagined one had appeared up ahead. The faintest line of something paler than black, like the first hint of milky dawn above the trees. Hollyleaf blinked and shook her head, trying to clear her vision. But the gray stripe was still there. Maybe it was light? She limped faster, ignoring the burn in her hind leg. The light grew stronger. It was seeping from a gap in the wall: another, smaller tunnel leading off. Hollyleaf dragged herself around the corner. Was it her imagination, or could she see the walls of a cave opening out ahead? In her excitement, she tried to stand up. Her hind leg buckled beneath her and stars exploded in her head. The last thing she saw was the stone floor rushing up to meet her._

_~Hollyleaf's Story_

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Hollyleaf opened her eyes to darkness. For a moment, she mewed out into the emptiness, calling for some help. Was she blind now, like Jayfeather, stuck in a world of endless grey?

"Lionblaze?" she wailed. "Jayfeather!" There was no response from her dark surroundings. Swallowing, Hollyleaf pulled herself around, making out a dull beam of light. She sighed in relief. At least she still had all of her senses. Then a wave of agonizing pain washed through her, and Hollyleaf cried out as black pulled her vision in every which way. She collapsed once more.

This time, she thought she could hear pawsteps, and she could smell the soft wave of herbs and water in the air.

"Leafpool?" she whispered, although she didn't really want Leafpool, did she? Hollyleaf sobbed, reaching out with her voice towards the source of the paws.

"Hush…" An unfamiliar but gentle male voice was nearby, and a piece of moss fell before her. "Drink this."

Gasping for air through her sobs and the spasms of pain running up and down her hind leg, Hollyleaf leaned forward and lapped up the sweet, earthy water. It trickled down her throat and soothed her chest, and the cool feeling of hydration swept from her dry nose to the tips of her claws.

"Now lie back," said the voice. "You can sleep, it's okay."

She didn't believe the voice, but her body was protesting doing anything else but sleep, so Hollyleaf moaned lightly and let her pain take her away, far away…

_She walked in dreams down a path of yellow-tinted grass, while shadows chased up and down alongside her. It was as if the only thing that was solid was her path, and if she swayed from it, everything would come crashing down. As she walked, she noted that the grass was becoming stained with blood, which was dripping from her paws._

_ How had that gotten there? Her paws had been clean just a day ago, before any of this had happened. She was absolutely sure that she had cleaned Ashfur's blood off of her paws after she killed him. His body had washed down the river, and so had the blood – off it went, spinning through the foaming river alongside tufts of black fur and the most obvious grey carcass. Hollyleaf shivered. She had to find a new river to re-wash her paws, for dipping them in the river hadn't done the trick._

_ "Are you coming to visit me, Hollyleaf?" asked a teasing, kit-like voice. Hollyleaf stopped and looked around her, and she thought she saw the mirage-like shadows flicker. "Hollyleaf, Hollyleaf!"_

_ "We all drown together," said another voice, chiding and sweet and terrifying. "Just stick your head under the surface, and we all drown."_

_ "Drown in fire, drown in wind, drown in water," said a third voice, even more innocent than the others. "What would you prefer, Hollyleaf?"_

_ "Who's there?" Hollyleaf called out into the shadows, her pelt bristling, totally on edge. Who was calling to her? Why were they threatening her? There was no water for her to drown in. She was safe. She would be okay._

_ "Hollyleaf?" Hollyleaf turned her head, towards the back of her path, and there was Leafpool, standing all pristine and pretty. Hollyleaf had always thought that Leafpool was beautiful. It was no wonder Crowfeather had loved her. The image of the two of them, her real parents, caught in her throat and brought tears to her eyes. Leafpool was her mother, not Squirrelflight. She was an abomination._

_ "Leafpool, what do I do?" whispered Hollyleaf. Leafpool considered the question, tilting her head to the side to observe Hollyleaf._

_ "You fall," said Leafpool._

_ And the pathway fell from under Hollyleaf's paws, and she screamed as she fell, down, down, down into shadows and greyness, and kits sung of drowning in her ears._

She sat up with a startled gasp and was staring into bright green eyes. Hollyleaf recoiled, reaching up with her claws to swipe at the newcomer, but the eyes vanished and reappeared.

"It's okay," said a voice. It took a minute, but then Hollyleaf recognized it as the gentle tom-cat voice that she had heard before her nightmares. "Can you sit up?"

Hollyleaf shook her head to dislodge the voices of kits from her ears and slowly sat up, gritting her teeth against the pain in her back leg. Slowly, a scene came together before her: a large, grey cave punctured only with a soft beam of light that flitted from a gap in the roof of the stone enclosure. There was another cat sharing the space with her, someone who observed her without a sound.

He was a skinny little tom, but his coat was a sleek patchwork of ginger and white. His eyes were deep green, and his tail was fluffy and long. He had broad shoulders packed with muscle, but small paws dotted with dirt. Parts of his fur looked as though they had been slicked with mud and stuck up the wrong way, giving him a slightly scrawny appearance.

More importantly, he carried a very small fish, which he pushed over to her. Hollyleaf stared at it for a long moment, blinking away her discomfort. How could she explain that she didn't want this fish? Finally, her stomach growled, and under her hunger and the cat's expectant eyes, she bent over to gnaw at the fish meat. It came apart in her mouth, making Hollyleaf gag at the sour taste, but at last she swallowed it all.

"Not fond of fish, are you?" asked her visitor. "I'm sorry. There's not much variety down here."

"It's fine," said Hollyleaf. "Really. Thank you." She licked her lips, hoping that the taste of fish would go away. "Who are you? And where am I?"

"My name is Fallen Leaves," said her visitor. "You're in one of the smaller caves. Are you another soft-paw?" asked Fallen Leaves, although the tone of his voice demonstrated that he himself doubted his statement.

"What's a soft-paw?" asked Hollyleaf. Her voice sounded gritty and hoarse from lack of use, so she coughed a little bit until she felt her throat clear. "No. I'm…" _Well, you're not a warrior of ThunderClan, not anymore._ Hollyleaf sucked in a breath, trying to place her words. She didn't want to be a cat of ThunderClan, not of a Clan that continued to tread lightly around the warrior code and the will of StarClan. But where would she go? Was she a loner now? "I came from ThunderClan."

"Oh!" His eyes lit up. "You're Hollypaw, aren't you?"

Hollyleaf blinked and bristled. How could he possibly know her? Bashful, the cat bounced from paw to paw before explaining.

"I know your brother, Jayfeather," said Fallen Leaves. "And I met you when you got lost in these tunnels. I helped to guide you out." He tilted his head. "You don't seem like a Clan cat."

"What?" asked Hollyleaf. Fallen Leaves circled her, making Hollyleaf uncomfortable. His green eyes seemed to be looking for something.

"Well, you're a shadow cat," he said.

"Excuse me?" gasped Hollyleaf. She tried to step away from him, but her hind leg was bound in a thick padding of leaves, making her trip. Hollyleaf looked around her, realizing that a soft nest of cave moss and feathers had been put into place around her. Fallen Leaves stared at her, unfazed. "What did you call me?"

"You're a shadow cat," he repeated. "You're made of shadows, just like I am."

Hollyleaf looked down at herself, but she just saw her plain old self. Was it because her pelt was black? No…his pelt certainly wasn't black.

"I don't understand what you mean," she said hesitantly. "How can I be…made of shadows?"

"Don't worry, they're good shadows," said Fallen Leaves. "I really hope you never get to meet a cat of bad shadows."

"What's the difference?" asked Hollyleaf, turning her eyes up. "And I still don't understand."

Fallen Leaves sat down, a warrior teaching his apprentice.

"Well, there are shadows everywhere," he said. "They make sure that cats stay together, and they are present when we die. They make up our dreams. They make up stars and the night sky." He tilted his head up, and a spare ray of sunlight caught on his nose. Hollyleaf could see in the sunshine that he was, in fact, a little translucent, as if a StarClan warrior. "The good shadows wrap around us when we die and make sure we stay present, you see?"

"So StarClan warriors are made out of…shadows?"

"What's StarClan?"

"Never mind. But I'm alive, Fallen Leaves. And so are you…aren't you?" She posed the question a little hesitantly. Fallen Leaves caught her eyes and stepped out of the sun, a little bashful.

"Sometimes, good shadows lend themselves down to other cats and wrap them up," said Fallen Leaves. It's like you get this ball of shadow inside you, and it spreads until it becomes you." He swept his tail in a wide arc, casting dust up. It shimmered like snow in the falling sun and glittered down on Hollyleaf's nose, making her sneeze. "But they're good shadows. When it's a good shadow, you stay you. You're just a shadow version of you. Sometimes they boggle your mind, make you think differently. I think the shadows make you wiser."

Hollyleaf bit the inside of her mouth until she tasted blood, trying to avoid the inevitable flashes of Ashfur in her mind. Ashfur flailing backwards, Ashfur collapsing under the weight of her jaws in his throat. She swallowed. Had there been shadows involved then? Had she been wise then?

"And what about the bad shadows?" asked Hollyleaf in order to distract herself. If he noticed her panic, Fallen Leaves said nothing of it.

"The bad shadows do the same thing, except you don't stay you." Fallen Leaves sounded troubled by this proclamation. "It's like they take you apart from the inside, until there's nothing left but shadow. They make you a darker version of you."

"And you and I are…?"

"Made of good shadows," said Fallen Leaves. "The shadows sustain me. They chose me to stay here, which isn't that bad. I don't know why they chose you, but judging by how quickly your leg is healing, they must want you alive."

Hollyleaf looked down at her leg, suddenly realizing that she had been putting weight on it without much problem. There was only a dull ache in her joints now, but that wasn't so bad. Was she to thank these…shadows, then?

"How do you know healing?" she said as Fallen Leaves bent towards her leg. He looked up, his green eyes shining.

"Where I came from, we all know a little bit of healing," he said softly.

"And where is that?"

"Above the surface," said Fallen Leaves idly. "Above the surface moons beyond moons ago. In another era, almost."

He looked away, his eyes clouding painfully. Though she had more questions, Hollyleaf decided to keep them to herself. Fallen Leaves gave a bashful smile.

"I'll leave you, then," he said. As he said this, he drifted back into the shadows.

"Wait," Hollyleaf said desperately. She was leaning towards him, but she winced and laid back down as her leg gave a pang. Fallen Leaves observed her from the shadows. Hollyleaf stared at him for a few moments, her heart empty. She didn't want the nightmares to come back, or the memories – which were even worse. How could she even begin to think about ThunderClan again? It was far too easy when she was alone. She didn't want to be alone.

"I won't be far away," said Fallen Leaves. "Rest now."

She wanted to call out again, but she found she had nothing to say. Then she was alone in the dark.

X

"You're doing much, much better," said Fallen Leaves warmly. Hollyleaf beamed at him from across the den, turning and walking towards him. "I expect you'll want to go back to your family soon."

"No!" Hollyleaf's ears flattened, and she shut her eyes as images of Jayfeather and Lionblaze and Leafpool flashed on the insides of her eyelids. "No…no, I can't go back."

"They're your family," said Fallen Leaves, sounding perplexed. He paused for a few moments. "I would give anything to see my family again."

"What happened?" The words spilled from Hollyleaf's lips before she could help herself, and Fallen Leaves looked up, surprised.

"It's a long story, and not a happy one," he said, turning away. Hollyleaf sat down in front of him.

"It's not like I have anything else to do," she said.

"M-maybe another time." Fallen Leaves' whiskers twitched, and he turned away. For a cat that was made of shadows from moons upon moons ago, he certainly acted like a young warrior. Hollyleaf wondered when the last time another cat had really and honestly spoken to him had been.

"Okay," she said. "But you shouldn't keep everything secret."

"What about you?" said Fallen Leaves. He tilted his head. "You say you won't go back to your family. Why is that?" He looked as if it had personally offended him. "I've seen both of your brothers. They're kind, good cats."

Hollyleaf observed Fallen Leaves, a little startled at his frankness. Then she sighed.

"It's not that I don't love them," she said softly. "I…I made a mistake. I hurt my Clan."

"I'm sure they would forgive you," said Fallen Leaves.

"I'm not sure _I_ forgive me," said Hollyleaf, laughing nervously. Her companion's eyes were full of concern. She shifted back to her nest, trying to focus on the dull ache in her leg instead of the dull ache in her heart. "I thought for my entire life that I was a good, strong cat. I was part of a prophecy. I had great parents, and great littermates. I was training to be a warrior. I had a wonderful life."

The story spilled out of her as easily as the river trickled into the lake, and then she was going on and on, letting it all go, explaining her feelings in the moment, her mind spinning as she did so. It was reliving everything at once, each moment and memory of her entire life coming out of her. Fallen Leaves didn't say a thing until she was finished, and then he sat down beside her. His pelt was chilly, but Hollyleaf could feel him there. She would have thought him to be somewhat immaterial. He was anything but. Fallen Leaves' scent brought her to days past, of sunshine and tall grass and new saplings where she now knew massive oaks. She could nearly taste his entire life just by sitting next to him. It was easy to tell what he missed, for he no longer smelled like sunshine and tall grass and new saplings per say – more like the absence of them. Hollyleaf couldn't describe how it felt to breathe his outside yet secluded smell.

"I've met your littermates," repeated Fallen Leaves. "I think they would take you back. If they are indicative of your…ThunderClan, then I think everything would be fine."

"I told you," said Hollyleaf quietly. "I don't know if I want to go back." She turned her head. "I don't think I'm part of the prophecy anymore. I think StarClan cut me out of it. And how could I face them? Any of them…I don't belong there. The Clan hurts."

"You love them," said Fallen Leaves quietly.

"Yes," said Hollyleaf. "I love Jayfeather and Lionblaze."

"But you can't love yourself," said Fallen Leaves. Hollyleaf blinked at that, and she stared at him. "I understand. For a while, I couldn't love myself either."

"What changed?" said Hollyleaf after a few desperate seconds had passed between them. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like to talk about it…"

"Your Clans came to my lands, and I met cats like your brother. Jayfeather." Fallen Leaves said it all softly. "I guess I realized I could help others. That I was put here for a reason."

"What reason is there for my existence?" said Hollyleaf. She gazed up at the rotund ceiling of the cave. "I shouldn't exist. My birth shouldn't have happened."

It was breaking two codes. Hollyleaf had been so in tune with the warrior code her entire life, and knowing that she herself was in violation of both the warrior code and the medicine cat code…how was she expected to deal with it? _She_ was _wrong._ There was nothing more to it. She was a lie, a mistake. Maybe she shouldn't be living anymore.

"I'll leave you to rest," said Fallen Leaves in a soft voice. "I'll be back to check on you."

"Why bother?" said Hollyleaf. "Why not let me die?" The words came out as a spit, and she shivered from the tip of her pelt to her nose. Fallen Leaves couldn't meet her gaze, and he walked slowly across the den.

"You are in trouble, and you need my help," he said. "I could never leave a cat like you alone, not even if you ask me."

"What happens when I recover, then?" said Hollyleaf. Fallen Leaves sighed.

"Then I suppose you'll want me to show you the way out," he said. "It isn't my business whether or you not you go back to your family and your group."

"Have you ever left?" said Hollyleaf.

"This is my home," said Fallen Leaves. He glanced back. "I am a cat made of shadows, but I am not…as some say, incorruptible. I don't make my own choices."

Then he left into the dark. Hollyleaf sat there staring after him, wondering why she felt so guilty and inclined to call him back.

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**SO very much drowning. Wow, I'm so excited. Hollyleaf and Fallen Leaves. A dream. **

**Essentially, this story came to me after I realized that I had entirely ignored Hollyleaf in Elemental. I came up with reasoning for it and plugged her back in. If you aren't caught up, Hollyleaf features in prologues of Book 1, a few chapters in War of Shadows, and...(I haven't finished chapter 1 so I shouldn't be telling you this but oh well) the prologue of Book 4. Get pumped. Everything is about to connect, and Hollyleaf is a walking connection.**

**If you are as excited as I am, or if you just want to comment on this chapter, I would love to hear from you! Don't forget to follow so you can keep updated as to when I update! Unfortunately, there are 15 chapters of Hollyleaf's Retelling and 39 chapters of The Final Step, so...the update schedule on this one isn't promising. Still. I would love your support. Thanks, everyone!**

**~Elsi**


	2. Chapter 2: Rising

**Hollyleaf is my absolute favorite. Also, I'm getting obsessed with the way Fallen Leaves acts and talks. **

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Chapter 2: Rising

"So incorruptible cats," said Hollyleaf, gathering her paws closer so as not to disturb Fallen Leaves as he fished. "What makes them…incorruptible?"

"They have power," said Fallen Leaves. "They have to choose to fade. Corruptible shadow cats are directed by incorruptible ones."

He moved quickly, splashing water on Hollyleaf as he dove after a fish and caught it deftly in his paws. Satisfied, he turned around and dropped it at her paws.

"You're very kind, to keep helping me like this," said Hollyleaf, blinking gratefully at him before taking a few bites. She was getting used to fish, especially the slim little ones that Fallen Leaves could fish out of the underground river. She was also getting used to darkness, and to solitude, and to his company.

A moon had passed, filled with Hollyleaf walking more and more. She could get from the cave holding her nest to this cave, which held the river. She could navigate the tunnels on her own, and she sometimes did. She was afraid to go too far away from her little cave, but when Fallen Leaves was with her, she had no worries. Up close, the spiritual cat did have a sort of ancient wisdom about him, but he was also caught in an eternal stage of being a new warrior. He liked to talk about fish, and about the stars. Hollyleaf asked him every few days about his family, and he did tell her a few bits and pieces – they lived here, all one group. She learned about his mother, Broken Shadow, towards whom Fallen Leaves felt guilty for failing.

When she finished eating the fish, Hollyleaf looked up to see that Fallen Leaves was still there. Lately he would drift off more and more, as if he had to come to terms with something on his own. Hollyleaf had to wonder if he disapproved of her presence in the tunnels.

"You're doing better," he said. Hollyleaf sat watching him and the odd look in his eyes. "I guess you'll want to move on."

Hollyleaf swallowed back the suddenly bitter taste in her throat. She blamed the fish, although fish didn't usually hurt her chest this way. It was okay. He was asking her to leave, in his polite way.

"I suppose so," she said quietly. Fallen Leaves nodded, and for a moment, neither of them spoke. Both of them felt the shift, so they turned in unison and padded back to Hollyleaf's nest, into the cave where they had met.

"I'll show you out at sunrise," said Fallen Leaves. He dipped his head and started to slip back into the shadows. So many times, Hollyleaf had just let him go, but the bitter taste in her mouth hardened her resolve.

"Thank you for all of this," said Hollyleaf. Her comment, or perhaps her desperate tone, made him pause. "You didn't have to shelter me for so long."

"I enjoyed myself," said Fallen Leaves. He tried to duck out again.

"Do you really think I should go back?" she asked. They had somehow managed to skirt the topic of ThunderClan for nearly fourteen sunrises, but Hollyleaf was sure that Fallen Leaves understood. He turned back meditatively.

"I don't know what you should do," said Fallen Leaves. "It's not really my place to say."

"But if you could help your family, you would go back," said Hollyleaf. "That's what you would choose."

"Now, I think I would," said Fallen Leaves. "Life was complicated, and it was exhausting, but it was not lonely."

"You're lonely," said Hollyleaf. She tilted her head. "You should leave."

"I've told you before," said Fallen Leaves. "This is the only home I have. I'm not really at liberty to leave."

"Do you want to?"

Hollyleaf knew the answer already. She could see it in the way Fallen Leaves fished for her, how he got so excited to show her his little slopes and dips in the earth, how he spent most of the time glancing up at the sunlight streaming into the cave. It was in the way he smelled, in the way his fur felt both warm and unreal, how he had somehow managed to retain a hopeful youth despite speaking in a sometimes harsh manner.

"I've long given up on seeing the outside world," said Fallen Leaves, and Hollyleaf could taste the lie.

"You need it," said Hollyleaf. "You need the sunshine and the fresh air."

"Hollyleaf, please," said Fallen Leaves. He stared at her paws, green eyes empty. "I don't have the right to choose where I go."

"That's not fair," said Hollyleaf. "That's not right." She knew the laws, knew that he didn't _really_ have autonomy, but it wasn't fair for him to have to stay here forever, on his own. "You must be able to leave."

"I've been here for so long I've lost track of the time," spat Fallen Leaves. "Do you really think I would confine myself to such a lonely existence?"

He sighed heartily at her silence.

"My entire group lived here," said Fallen Leaves. "And we were happy. We lived above these tunnels, and they were a ritual for us. You went down at sunset, and if you could come up before sun-up, you would no longer be a soft-paw. You could be a sharp-claw, a real member of the group."

"What happened?" asked Hollyleaf.

"It rained," said Fallen Leaves. Hollyleaf swallowed. She remembered how the caves had filled with water, water that sloshed and spat up foam against the walls. She remembered how it suddenly became so dark that they couldn't see, and how she had clung tight to the hope that she would survive, even though it had been so apparent that she would die. She remembered the way her lungs had burned as they were swept into the lake, and how she had latched onto air and dry land with a stubborn intensity.

"So that was the night…" She couldn't finish the sentence. She could imagine Fallen Leaves struggling under the water, his body burning, unable to save himself. Drowning seemed such a horrid, horrid way to die.

"I woke up here," said Fallen Leaves. "I was told that I was a shadow cat now, and that I was to wait here. No more soft-paws came into the tunnels. It was just me, alone, forever, in the dark. I tried to get out at least every day. I searched and walked and struggled, but whenever the tunnels opened into sunlight, I couldn't leave. My paws would give out on me.

"Then I met your brother, and you and your brothers and the other she-cat came down here to help those kits," said Fallen Leaves. "You were the first cats I had seen in…well, I don't know how long it has been. I thought that maybe I could leave with you, but…" He shook his head. "I'm not waiting for something to come along, Hollyleaf. I'm trapped here forever."

"You can't think like that," said Hollyleaf. She took a few awkward steps towards him. "You have to have hope."

Fallen Leaves didn't reply.

"I-I'll hope for you, then," said Hollyleaf. She nudged his flank with her tail. "I'll hope for you."

Fallen Leaves slipped into the darkness without a response, and this time, Hollyleaf could do nothing but watch him go.

XX

At sunrise, he ended up leading her out anyways. There was no skip in his step, not even a façade of being happy. Fallen Leaves just came to her, miserable.

"Good morning," said Hollyleaf tentatively. There was no film between them, no screen hiding things from one party or the other.

"Hello, Hollyleaf," said Fallen Leaves. "Ready to go?"

Hollyleaf nodded a little numbly and followed him into the darkness of the tunnels. A few days ago, they had walked side-by-side, pelts brushing, life and death walking alongside one another. Jokes and laughter a constant exchange, sobered occasionally by a statement or a question about their pasts. Hollyleaf had somehow felt that ThunderClan was behind her when she was here in the darkness, joined only by Fallen Leaves. Their silence this morning was not the companionable silence anymore, but one more compassionate, and somehow mutually hesitant.

Hollyleaf caught sight of the light ahead of her, and her breath hitched in her throat just staring at it. This was the final day she would spend down in this forgiving darkness. She had no need to stay hiding underneath the earth, as her leg had recovered, and she was getting sick of fish and the scrawny mice that got lost under the forest floor.

She found herself standing at the edge of light and darkness, standing at that frontier without crossing the final threshold. Fallen Leaves sat beside her.

"Do you know what you're doing next?" he asked.

"I can't go back to ThunderClan," said Hollyleaf. It was the first time she had said the words and meant them without a twinge of sadness. "I wouldn't fit into any of the other Clans either." What then, the Tribe? "Maybe I'll just wander. See where life takes me."

"Enjoy yourself," said Fallen Leaves. "Maybe somewhere out there, you can find your forgiveness, and you can go back to your family."

"Maybe," said Hollyleaf. She could taste the sweet sunshine-splashed air, and it made her smile. She turned to the ginger-and-white cat at her side. "Come with me."

"I can't leave," said Fallen Leaves.

"Come with me," said Hollyleaf again. "You said you can't make your own choices because you're a corruptible shadow cat, right?"

"There's nothing you can do about that," said Fallen Leaves.

"Well, isn't it possible that I'm incorruptible?" said Hollyleaf. "Can't I make decisions for you?"

Fallen Leaves meditated on this for a second, and then he sighed.

"But you don't make the decisions involving me," he said. "Some other cat, maybe. My decisions have been made already."

"Hope, Fallen Leaves," said Hollyleaf. She took a deep breath and took a step forward. Sunlight washed over her pelt, bringing with it the cool breeze from the moors nearby and the early heat. She heard the crashing of small waves on the edges of the lake. She heard the rustle of grass and flowers, and the whisper of leaves getting caught up in the wind. It was beautiful, but it wasn't nearly as important as the young tom standing in the darkness ahead of her.

"Please try for me," said Hollyleaf. "I don't want you to be lonely anymore."

Fallen Leaves stared at her for a few seconds, and then he cautiously reached a paw into the sunlight and placed it on solid ground. A shiver ran up Hollyleaf's spine, the feeling of shattering words, a curse un-writing itself. He looked so spiritual, so thin, almost translucent, but then he stood in the sun, complete.

Hollyleaf watched as the sensation of the outside world hit Fallen Leaves at full force, whipping around his ears and his fur. He had never looked more alive. For a while he didn't speak, only reveled in the feeling of being free from the maze underground.

"Hollyleaf," said Fallen Leaves. He looked as if he might start crying. "Hollyleaf." His voice cracked on her name. Hollyleaf giggled. Fallen Leaves took a step forward, his claws sheathing and unsheathing as he felt the ground beneath his paws. "I don't know how you did this, but…thank you." He looked up, his green eyes impassioned.

"Hollyleaf." They jumped, and a slight disturbance in the wind brought Hollyleaf's attention behind her, towards the cat that sat there.

Or was he a cat at all? He was easily the ugliest cat Hollyleaf had ever laid eyes on, and was mostly bald, with oddly bulging eyes that were glassy, like Jayfeather's, but more gross. Hollyleaf resisted the urge to shy away from him, partly because Fallen Leaves had hopped up to Hollyleaf's side.

"Rock!" he cried. His eyes were wide, every hair on edge. Hollyleaf knew that this "Rock" cat must have been important.

"What is it?" asked Hollyleaf, turning towards Rock. She briefly remembered his name – had Jayfeather ever met him and told her about it? "What do you want from me?"

"You've freed Fallen Leaves," said Rock. "Just as was destined."

Fallen Leaves stood still at her side. Hollyleaf swallowed – who was he?

"You are the Cat that Walks Between Worlds," said Rock. "The In-Between cat. You must complete your destiny."

"My destiny?" Hollyleaf took a step back, her fur trembling. This felt so familiar, the rush of importance, the slight nausea that overtook her when she thought of being so valuable. She hated herself for feeling this way. "No, no. StarClan cut me out of the prophecy."

"Prophecies are a collection of words," said Rock. "There are more words than just those you hear in prophecies, are there not?"

"Yes, but – "

"Then why is it that only cats in prophecies may have destinies?" snapped Rock. He glared at her, although Hollyleaf was positive that he couldn't actually see the way she trembled. "Over the mountains, you will find a new ally awaiting you in a new land."

"Over the mountains?" said Hollyleaf, her ears perking up.

"Your path will be made plain," said Rock. "Your journeys will take you up through the mountains in search of a new home for the Four Clans – the home for the new era."

"The new era?" Hollyleaf didn't like the sound of all of this. "Why me? What am I doing? What ally am I trying to see?"

"You were chosen for this destiny because you alone have access to every future and past there is," said Rock. "Your brothers will save the Clan without you, this is true. But you have a part to play still. You will find a new home, leave the signs that will help the Clans reach it, and then you will forge the connections that help your littermates achieve their destinies."

Hollyleaf nodded numbly.

"I see," she said. A sudden swelling of pride flared up in her chest, and this no longer seemed like she was being told that she was part of a prophecy. No, prophecies didn't matter. She was the _only_ one who could do this job. A new home for the Clans! She was like Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight now!

And Crowfeather. She was also like Crowfeather.

"What about me?" said Fallen Leaves, flicking his tail in worry. "What do I do now?"

"Hollyleaf freed you from your loneliness," said Rock. "Don't you want to pay her back by freeing her from hers?"

Hollyleaf and Fallen Leaves exchanged a cautious glance, and Hollyleaf felt the heat grow in her pelt.

"You don't have to come, if you don't want to," she said, trying to focus on anything but his eyes. What if all along, he had been trying to get rid of her? Wouldn't he want to find his family? Maybe now that he was free, he would be free to go to StarClan, or wherever he believed he would go, or whatever.

Fallen Leaves smiled – a real smile, powerful and like sunshine, not just the absence of sunshine.

"I would love to come with you, Hollyleaf," said Fallen Leaves. "You were my hope when I needed it most, so maybe I can be the forgiveness you're looking for."

"Your journey will be hard, and it will be long," said Rock. "Your enhancements should be enough to get you through the worst of it, but Fallen Leaves may step in if needed."

"Enhancements?" Hollyleaf asked, but as she said the word, she defined it. Of _course_ – she _had_ had power, all along. The power to understand law and code, to help her acclimate anywhere. The power to pick out who needed help, to point her in the right direction. The power of always being reserved about the truth, to point out the differences between her life and other realities. The power to share her gifts, to connect with someone and help them in their need. The power to walk through this world and the parallel ones around it.

Oh, StarClan, who was she?

* * *

**Something of a WTF just happened moment, I know. I apologize for that. The next chapter will go into more detail on what just happened and what its consequences are. Promise!**

**Hollyleaf and Fallen Leaves are threads in a massive tapestry that spans this series. I'm getting so pumped to reveal her story, especially as she spans every time period covered so far. :D**

**Review if you liked it! I haven't actually plotted the next chapter in much detail, so if you have any strong opinions on what should go on between starting point and destination, I would definitely be open to hearing them! Thanks, all!**

**~Elsi**


	3. Chapter 3: Traveling

**Ohmygosh. The last thing I posted for this story was like six weeks ago - I AM SO SORRY. :( Basically, this chapter has been giving me a lot of trouble, for the only prompt I had for it was something along the lines of "Questing: Part 1" which is just SO NOT HELPFUL for book outlining. Ugh. It actually ended up as more romance than anything else. *shrugs* it's a little dull, but I promise things will pick up next chapter!**

**Okay, that's all. Thanks for reading this and sticking with me! I love you all, readers!**

**~Elsi**

* * *

Chapter 3: Traveling

"So, talk me through this one more time," said Fallen Leaves as the rocks stung Hollyleaf's pads and the pale grey sky shone down on her. "You were part of a prophecy?"

"No," said Hollyleaf. "I only thought I was. My brothers were actually part of the prophecy – them and who knows who else."

"So you're not part of the prophecy…but you have powers?"

"What is this?" said Hollyleaf, turning to the tom at her side. Fallen Leaves shrank back from her sour look. "I totally accepted being made of shadows, so why is it so hard to believe that I have powers?"

"I guess that's true," said Fallen Leaves. "You _must_ be incorruptible. So, what are your powers again?"

Hollyleaf had listed them at least three times for the three days they had been traveling, but she understood his need to wrap his head around this. To be honest, she was still struggling to understand exactly who she was and how she understood all of this.

"Rock called me the In-Between Cat, because I have the power to come and go through worlds parallel to this one. The worlds are held together by shadow ligaments, and I have the ability to move back and forth between them."

"And these…enhancements?"

"I have four," said Hollyleaf. "Sub-powers, I guess you could say. They just kind of expand my personality. I can connect with someone mentally – which is what I'm doing with you right now. You're dead, but I can still see you. I always have a sense of the laws of my world – which helps me figure out which world I'm in. Every world has its own rules, see."

"That's how you believed me about the shadows, then," said Fallen Leaves. "And that's why you know all this now?"

"That's my theory," said Hollyleaf. "The other two are more mundane. I have an ability to see what other cats need my help, and I'm wary about the truth."

"That's just empathy and suspicion," said Fallen Leaves, his whiskers twitching. Hollyleaf smiled at him. "You're empathetic at least. This just confirms that."

"It suggests that I would be neither of those things without those enhancements," she added.

"I don't think so," said Fallen Leaves cheerfully, but because he didn't have any evidence to prove this, Hollyleaf didn't argue. To be honest, she enjoyed his complements. They were so _Fallen Leaves_ – he didn't keep the awe out of his voice when he spoke to her, as if she was constantly the very thing he wanted to be around. He hadn't let go of this thought about her being his hope. Had Hollyleaf known him better, and had she not freed him of his terrible loneliness, she would have called it romantic.

They were nearing the part of the mountains where the air was thinner and the clouds heavier, where Hollyleaf's thick black pelt started struggling to keep out the biting cold and the rocks under her paws provided a sting she didn't appreciate. Still, something in her head called her, like an internal compass that even she couldn't explain.

"We've been walking for a while," said Fallen Leaves after a little time of silence. "Should we think about setting a marker?"

"I don't know what to leave," said Hollyleaf.

"Whoever is going to be following this path will know," said Fallen Leaves. "Pity you can only go between worlds, and not between time periods."

Hollyleaf meowed her agreement, although her stomach twisted a little bit. How could she tell him that even though she was very aware of her power, she didn't have any idea how it worked? She feared to try it out, and besides, she didn't even have a sense of how she would go about experimentation. For now, it was just this crazy quest.

The crazy quest made sense, too, but in the same way that her enhancements did: in theory. She knew that she was to meet with some sort of chosen messenger after thirty sunsets of walking along the tops of the mountains. Along the way, she had been tasked with making a path for the chosen cat, who would come later and lead the Clans along the spine of the mountain and into the chosen land waiting for them. All in all, Hollyleaf thought that while they were at it, StarClan really out to choose a few more things. She wasn't sure what she was to be marking – where were her chosen rocks and chosen fallen trees? Everything along the scant mountain landscape looked precisely the same. Besides, what was stopping StarClan from giving their chosen leader a chosen compass, anyways? They seemed capable of giving such a chosen compass to Hollyleaf. Was this quest even necessary, then?

"Here," said Fallen Leaves. Hollyleaf felt his movement and looked up to see him perching on a boulder. "This rock is on one side of the path we're taking. Maybe we can find another one to make an entrance, almost?"

"Good idea," said Hollyleaf.

This is how they worked: Fallen Leaves knew all about finding signs and making other cats notice him, even when he didn't exist, and his advice was invaluable. Using his advice, Hollyleaf pushed another rock into place on the other side of the path they were making.

"This works well," she said thoughtfully. "Good thinking." Fallen Leaves smiled, then turned his eyes up to the sky.

"It seems like it will rain soon," he said. "Maybe it's a good idea to find some sort of shelter."

"You may be right," said Hollyleaf, looking at the gathering clouds ahead. She looked around at the rocks and spare brush that surrounded her, flexing her claws on the distantly familiar terrain. Half of her mind wanted to head towards where the sun was setting, where she knew the Tribe of Rushing Water would be safe from this storm inside their cave. The other half of her mind told her that the option was out of the picture.

With a sad smile, she turned away and headed off their path – ignoring the mild headache developing in her brain as she went off-course – and located a denser part of the mountains, where some trees grew. Fallen Leaves walked beside her in silence as the sky above them turned to leaf canopy. Hollyleaf didn't mind his silence so much. Once, she would have cringed at the silence, hastened to fill it with some joke. Cinderheart or Lionblaze would have done the same thing for her once, but with this oblivious tom, Hollyleaf didn't feel the need to hate silence. It actually seemed like he preferred silence to anything else.

"Hollyleaf, here," said Fallen Leaves. Once again, Hollyleaf felt him dance away from her, leaving a whisper of cool wind where his pelt had been. She never quite realized how close they walked until he was gone. Fallen Leaves was standing at an up-slope in the terrain, at the base of a falling tree. A small pit of dirt was all that was left.

"Something rested here recently," said Hollyleaf, sniffing the air. "A fox, maybe."

"Do foxes live up here?" said Fallen Leaves. Hollyleaf shrugged, stepping into the nest. There was almost enough room for them both to sit comfortably; as it was, Fallen Leaves was a warm-ish pelt to have beside her. His tail draped lazily over her back as he drooped as if in sleep.

"Do you still feel the need to rest?" asked Hollyleaf, amused at his show of exhaustion. Fallen Leaves purred against her flank.

"I think it's more routine than anything else."

"You mean you've always tried to sleep, even after…?"

"I died?"

They didn't know how to move on from that point.

"Yes," said Fallen Leaves, readjusting so he could peer up at Hollyleaf. Above their heads, the first rumble of thunder sounded, a lazy cat's stomach growling. "I tried to pretend I was still alive for a while."

"How long is a while?"

"About until your brother came upon me."

Hollyleaf sat there, unable to move, as the confession came forward. She closed her eyes instead, trying to imagine struggling so long to come to terms with a death like his. Always having those memories of dying, always waiting for someone to recognize you, never being able to escape to a normal afterlife. Most cats, when they died, went to StarClan to spend the rest of their days in existence. Fallen Leaves…he had been left to wander, kept in a sort of Place of No Stars, except he could see the light, and he could never reach it.

She had forgotten the way he smelled – like the absence of sunlight and forest and wind and _life_, but now, as the first currents of rain splashed down on the mountainside and he curled into her stomach, she couldn't ignore it. There was a tension in his shoulders, ghostly as they were. Hesitantly, Hollyleaf draped her own tail over his flank.

"Every time it rains, the tunnels flood." Fallen Leaves spoke in a hushed monotone. "That's how I died. The first time after that, I had been convincing myself I was still alive, and I couldn't…drowning a second time…a third…"

"Fallen Leaves!" Hollyleaf stopped his teeth from chattering, but his eyes were still squeezed shut. "Hey, it's going to be okay. You're not in those tunnels anymore." She could hear the rain on the tree trunk above them, pounding as though they were a part of the system, too. "Look at me."

Hesitantly, her ghost opened one dark green eye. Hollyleaf leaned her head closer to him, wishing that she could actually reach him so she could share tongues with him, at least to offer him comfort. She reminded him of Jayfeather, or how Jayfeather was after the thunderstorm and the fire in camp. Jayfeather, though, had refused all sorts of help with his fear, had never admitted to it, had refused Hollyleaf's help.

"My best friend in the Clan is named Cinderheart," said Hollyleaf. "She was an apprentice older than me, but I always looked up to her. I'm amazed she wanted to be friends with me. She was the best, loved by everyone. And she always had a smile on her face…"

Hollyleaf spoke as the rain tumbled on around them until her words had eased the tension in Fallen Leaves' shoulders. She forgot that she was supposed to be resting and that she had a quest. It was like she existed in memory, in the tree trunk in the rain, and in the circle of Fallen Leaves' tail. They brushed together, living cat and dead, and Hollyleaf realized just how in-between she was.

When, eventually, she set her head down, and the rain pattered on, but Hollyleaf's voice separated from it, Fallen Leaves sighed against her chest fur.

"I loved my family," he said. "I never made many friends, but the ones I did have were good, too. I loved being a soft-paw, and I was always excited to be a sharp-claw. But I wish I could have been an apprentice of ThunderClan with you."

"Huh?"

"You may have wanted to leave, in the end, but that's who you are, isn't it?"

"I guess so." Hollyleaf couldn't see herself back in the Clan, but she could see herself there in her memories, or in another world. Before everything went wrong.

"And it sounds so lovely," said Fallen Leaves. "Like everyone was one big family."

"We are," said Hollyleaf. _Were_, a voice reminded her.

"I guess we just weren't like that," said Fallen Leaves. "I mean, everyone knew everyone, but it…wasn't the same."

"But you're who you are because of it," said Hollyleaf. "I think it's important."

"What if things were different?" said Fallen Leaves. "What if we had grown up together with all your friends? What if I was a warrior of ThunderClan, too?"

"What's bringing this on?"

"I don't know," said Fallen Leaves. They listened to the rain for a moment. Were it not for the indecision in their conversation, Hollyleaf would have let his proximity and the rain be a lullaby.

"I guess we were always supposed to meet," said Fallen Leaves when Hollyleaf had almost given up on seeking an answer. "I just wish it didn't have to be after I drowned in the tunnels so many times I lost count."

"If you hadn't, I would be dead," said Hollyleaf. "My brothers and I would have drowned in the tunnels that day with the kits." She paused. "You've saved my life twice already."

"I guess there was no other way for things to happen, then," said Fallen Leaves, but he said it almost like a question. Hollyleaf wished she could have said the right words, but silence and darkness and shadow were more her place after all, it seemed.

"Oh, well," said Fallen Leaves. She felt a cool touch on her muzzle and realized that he had touched his nose to it. Hollyleaf would have reacted, but he was sweet, and she was sleepy, and the combination of that and the rain was lulling her. "Sleep, Hollyleaf."

She did, and she dreamed of a universe where he had been grown up her best friend.

* * *

**I actually think it's really sad that Fallen Leaves wandered around in those tunnels forever. I tried to calculate exactly how many times it has rained since FL died, but I have no idea how much time has passed between Fallen Leaves' death and Hollyleaf coming into his life. I'm always amazed at how young Fallen Leaves acted during the books, because he has to have been dead for something like 15 years or more. :(**

**Next chapter, we meet another character! YAY! And then from about Chapter 5 onwards, things get mega action-oriented. So, prep yourselves for that.**

**Again, I'm so sorry I dropped off the planet! I'll try to do better!**

**~Elsi**


	4. Chapter 4: Burdening

**A part of me is not at all satisfied with how this turned out, particularly the beginning. I've decided that the amount of time skips this story is going to be subject to is kind of dangerous, but there you have it. So, yes, there was a time skip. Hollyleaf grumbles about it for a while, so it should be pretty clear, but like four moons have passed since the last chapter. Yes, I know...**

* * *

Chapter 4: Burdening

The crisp leaf-bare air blanketed Hollyleaf, wrapping her up in the chill. She envied Fallen Leaves for not being able to feel it, as along he pranced, seemingly oblivious to all that was going on around them. She could see the thick snow through his translucent pelt. That made her even uneasier.

At first, she had believed that thirty days would lead her to her target, but thirty days had passed, and thirty more, and after that she had lost track. She had left in the first days of leaf-fall. It was far from leaf-fall now; the seasons had made their revolution, and Hollyleaf stood in the midst of leaf-bare in a land she did not understand.

On the thirtieth sunrise, as predicted, Hollyleaf had descended from the mountains and found herself in a perfect pocket of territory – for RiverClan, at least. Without direction, she had wandered the streambeds, seeking out the life form she had heard would come to her. Once she had found it uninhabited, she had followed the massive, snaking river – through territories fit for all Four Clans, and something beyond that. Still, there was no chosen prophet. After so long, Hollyleaf was considering going back.

She had brought up this suggestion to Fallen Leaves several times, at least once every few days of navigating the empty land. It was so quiet; the only real disruption was the roar of the rarely used Thunderpath that crossed through the center of this odd, seemingly perfect territory. Wandering with a ghost as her only company, Hollyleaf had gotten to thinking if this is how she would continue her life: as empty as the world around her. Surely she had been given her powers for a reason, but for right now, she didn't know what was happening. StarClan – and Rock, it appeared – were caught far away, back in the old territory. Had Hollyleaf done something wrong? Had she missed a step somewhere? This was certainly it: the land was perfect for all four Clans, and she could easily spot a campsite, training sites, everything they would ever need.

"Hey, cheer up," said Fallen Leaves, coming to press closer to her pelt. "Something will turn up."

"You've said that for the past four moons," said Hollyleaf. Cross, her pads aching, she sat down and cleared a spot of grass to keep out the cold. "Nothing is turning up."

"We'll find some clue, then," said Fallen Leaves. His ears twitched as he observed her. "You aren't convinced."

"Can you blame me?" said Hollyleaf. "We were told this would take a moon, maybe two. How many has it been?"

"Five?" guessed Fallen Leaves. "Maybe more. I'm not great at keeping track of time. But it hasn't been that long…"

"For you, I guess it hasn't," said Hollyleaf. Fallen Leaves shifted his paws. "Sorry."

"No, you're right," he said. "Maybe we're overlooking something. Maybe we've stopped in the wrong place."

"But it's perfect here," said Hollyleaf. "This has to be what StarClan was talking about."

"But StarClan hasn't sent any sign, and there's no way to talk to them," said Fallen Leaves. "If the sign didn't appear to you, then you're in the wrong place. You know as well as I do that it works like that."

"I can't shake the feeling that this is the right land," said Hollyleaf. "It took us thirty sunrises exactly to reach it. StarClan wouldn't have made a mistake like that, and it wasn't as if we traveled slowly."

"Then you're insistent on thinking that we've just missed the marker?" said Fallen Leaves. "How many times have you walked in circles around this plot of land, anyways?"

"I'm just trying to make this work."

"I understand that, but maybe it's time we move on."

His tail was twitching, and Hollyleaf watched him without speaking. She couldn't convey in words what this meant anymore. The hopeless feeling inside her, yet the sense that she was trapped in this land, as if it had already claimed her. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a strangled noise came out.

"Hollyleaf…" Fallen Leaves' tail flicked back and forth across the snow. "Is this even about the quest anymore?"

"Of course it is," said Hollyleaf. "That's the whole reason we're here. And if the quest doesn't add up, it…" She broke off. "What else could it be about?"

"I think you're blaming yourself," said Fallen Leaves. "I think you're looking for some excuse to prove that you were right, and that you deserve to be given powers and a quest. I think you need some justification as to why it was you chosen, why _you_ were the right cat."

Hollyleaf stared. The accusation pierced her heart, and she licked her lips, unsure of what to say next. Had it become about her? Was she simply choosing to stay in this land because it felt right to _her_, and she wasn't willing to give that up? Could he be right?

"E-even if it is," said Hollyleaf, feeling heat rising in her pelt. "Even if it is, StarClan should have sent some message by now. This is where they sent me, and I know that their clue must be _somewhere._ I don't think they would have sent us to the wrong place."

"But we've been searching for _moons_," said Fallen Leaves. "You really think there's something we're missing?"

"There has to be."

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yeah, fine." Fallen Leaves shook his head. "This isn't my quest. You're in charge."

"I brought you for your input."

"I gave it."

Sighing, seeing the reluctance on his face, Hollyleaf picked herself up. They were deep in the forest now, tucked by the frozen-over stream that wove through the woods and into the moorland.

"Where does StarClan usually keep their signs?" They had been over this before.

"The Moonpool."

"And there's no Moonpool here?"

"Not that we've found."

"But your Clans had a new territory before. Where did they go then?"

"The Moonstone, I believe it was called." Hollyleaf and Fallen Leaves had made it to the stream, and now walked along the bank, away from the central territory.

"Maybe we aren't looking for a pool, then?"

"Maybe not." Hollyleaf didn't like being so far away from the main river and the small pocket, the island, where she had set up camp. She envisioned it as an ideal place for Gatherings to happen, so on the full moon, she would sit vigil there, hoping StarClan would appear to her then and there. So far, no luck. She had tried looking for another Moonpool, or _something_ that appeared to have StarClan's touch. Would anything be that way, since StarClan hadn't come to this land? She sighed, picking up her pace. Anything to dislodge the way Fallen Leaves was glowering beside her.

The sun was setting. Maybe she could try to sleep somewhere else for the night. Fallen Leaves wouldn't mind, no matter how sullen he was acting. Hollyleaf stole a glance back at her companion and sighed. She could see by now that as her stubbornness and simultaneous despair grew, his frustration multiplied. But he wouldn't yell at her – he would urge her towards his opinion every once in a while. It shouldn't have surprised her that he was so complacent and patient; he had, after all, spent moon after moon after moon in those tunnels.

What was thirty days to someone as ancient as Fallen Leaves? No more than a twitch of her whiskers, she supposed. What was a living cat like Hollyleaf, then, but a distraction? He had probably been sentient for lifetimes, so that hers was inconsequential. She gritted her teeth as she walked, attempting to will the discouraging thoughts from her head. Of course she meant something to Fallen Leaves. She had been the first cat to free him from the horrible tunnels, and he was now following her on what he apparently thought to be a hopeless quest.

"The moon is almost risen," said Fallen Leaves after they had been walking for a while. Hollyleaf didn't look at him, but she slowed her pace. The spiritual cat sped up, so that he was walking slightly in front of her. "We should go back to the island. Sleep some."

"Maybe we can spend the night here," said Hollyleaf. Fallen Leaves glanced around.

"Here?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Hollyleaf…don't you smell that?" The ghostly cat turned his nose into the air to scent it. Hollyleaf followed suit, and blinked at the unusual smell. Something about it made the fur on the back of her neck stand up, and she had to shudder.

"What could it be?" she said. "I've never…"

"Almost like fox," said Fallen Leaves, but Hollyleaf was no longer listening, for the smell had intensified, and there was a note of fear to it as well. Fear, desperation, the heartbeat of someone in need of her help. Hollyleaf could smell the current, the tang of panic; she felt the rush of a quickened pulse as if it were her own pulse.

A white bundle of fur spilled out before them, wet and shaking, and Hollyleaf stood at full alert. A growl rose in Fallen Leaves' throat, and as the creature raised its head, Hollyleaf gasped and threw herself into the brush behind her. She hit a tree in her sudden panic, and, disoriented, she looked up.

The animal looked up, heavy pointed muzzle nearly the length of her head. Its enormous body dwarfed hers, and Hollyleaf gasped, realizing that now the fear was hers. The creature licked massive lips, and its jaws hung open. The razor sharp ivory teeth caught Hollyleaf's eyes, and in the moonlight, she couldn't help but shrink back. Her mind was racing, and for the first time since she had been made aware of them, Hollyleaf could feel her enhancements working at full speed –

The animal was called _wolf_, and this one was adolescent, younger than her by a few moons, and it had just been under attack. She could see the drying blood on its side indicative of a wound, but that didn't quell her fear, for even an injured wolf could cut her in half with one swipe of its massive claws. It had just been abandoned – no, _driven out_ – for being different. Its Clan, its family, had left it, and it was seeking something new, some new Clan to belong to, and Hollyleaf realized in one startling moment –

If she were a wolf, she would be this wolf.

"H-hello," said Hollyleaf, finding her way to her paws and beginning to circle, looking for an escape. If she could make it up a tree, she would be fine. The wolf observed her with intelligent, lethal eyes. Was this what being a mouse felt like? "I don't mean trouble."

It was obvious that the creature did not understand her. Yet, somehow, this animal had called to her; it had been so afraid earlier.

"Hollyleaf, run!" cried Fallen Leaves. Hollyleaf tried to ignore her, but the spiritual cat was running in circles, darting in the space between Hollyleaf and the wolf, trying to get her attention. Hollyleaf wasn't ready to run. This animal was her enemy, but it was also something of herself. If only Hollyleaf could establish some link of communication –

_That's it!_ Taking a deep breath, tapping the enhancement by the only way she knew how – thought – Hollyleaf met the wolf's dark, intelligent eyes and _reached_ for it, ready to share her power, ready to connect.

_Hello,_ she thought, and the wolf sat up, its ears going full alert. _I'm Hollyleaf._

He had heard her – he was male, she saw now.

"Can you understand me?" said Hollyleaf, trying her best to relax. The wolf stared back at her, his eyes alert, suddenly shifting. His jaws parted, but Hollyleaf realized that it was simply an attempt at communication, and something of shock. The wolf's eyes fell upon Fallen Leaves, and Fallen Leaves stared right back.

"He sees me," said Fallen Leaves. "Hollyleaf, did you connect with him like you're connecting with me?"

"I'm Hollyleaf," repeated Hollyleaf, looking the wolf in the confused eye. "This is Fallen Leaves. We're travelers, looking for a sign from StarClan."

And to her incredulity, the wolf spoke.

"I can hear your words," he said in a low, predatory voice. Any bloodlust fell away from its eyes. Hollyleaf blinked, and her eyelids seemed heavier. "I can feel you…your thoughts…"

"Do you feel my thoughts?" said Hollyleaf. Her paws were tingling, her mind on alert. "I'm a friend. We're friends. What's your…?"

"Hollyleaf, are you alright?" Fallen Leaves was at her side in a moment. Hollyleaf felt all right, but something was stirring within her, a strange and light feeling in her chest. Was this it? Was this what StarClan had been trying to lead her to – this wolf? Could he possibly be the chosen prophet of StarClan? She would have ruled it out, but the truth seemed wide open in all defiance to her enhancement that protected her from simple explanations.

"What's your name?" she said again, the words struggling to get out. Fallen Leaves hissed, and Hollyleaf staggered, missing a step. Something in her mind was escaping her, leaving her behind, and she almost fell prey to that trail. She forced her eyes open, forced her odd thoughts aside, and focused on the wolf before her.

"I'm Fountain," said the wolf. Hollyleaf smiled, and even that hurt. She knew what was going on now, and she could see it as easily as she could see Fountain: another set of woods, another empty space, grey and white and swirling. Slipping away, Hollyleaf nodded, half in her world and half beyond it.

"It's nice to meet you, Fountain," said Hollyleaf. The wolf and Fallen Leaves winced, and Hollyleaf fell. She felt the ground catch her body, encasing it in a layer of white. She felt Fountain and Fallen Leaves latch onto her thoughts, dragged with her as their connection pulled them together.

"What's going on?" said Fountain. "What is this strange…power? This mission? This…connection?" His eyes widening, the young wolf stepped back. And Fallen Leaves became all Hollyleaf could see – at least in this world. As he slipped out of sight, a new world opened up, the swirling black and white mass.

"Hollyleaf!" cried Fallen Leaves, but Hollyleaf's eyes in this world were closing, and she could feel the gate opening, pulling her mind elsewhere. For a second, her heart sped up like rabbit paws the second before a WindClan warrior snaps its neck. For a second, her blood pumped so violently, and she wanted to scream in terror, reach for Fallen Leaves and the world she knew. Then she was drifting, and the white-and-grey world became all she knew.

Everything was quiet. Hollyleaf stood in that world between worlds for the first time, and she recognized it as such. She trembled, turning around. How did she return to Fountain and Fallen Leaves? She didn't know where she was. She had dreamed of this world before, and the realization of that fact came back to her very suddenly. Hollyleaf swallowed. How could this be? She had once had nightmares every night about this place, about walking through the empty world-between-worlds unable to find her way out.

Now, though, it was like she was merely passing through. Already a tunnel was beginning to form. Hollyleaf breathed out a sigh of relief. She would go somewhere. Back to Fallen Leaves. Back to Fallen Leaves. Back to Fallen Leaves.

He was in her mind as she drifted, and the world-between-worlds fell away as Hollyleaf let her powers overtake her and drag her a step closer to her fate.

* * *

**OMG! Hollyleaf and Fountain meet! Hollyleaf is using her powers! Hollyleaf is in weird swirly grey and white world! Hollyleaf just left to go somewhere - back to Fallen Leaves, right?**

**Lol. Nope.**

**Sorry this story has been really disjointed so far. I know it doesn't seem like Hollyleaf has much place in this whole scheme, but OH SHE DOES. JUST WAIT. Next chapter is called Dreaming. It's going to be pretty intense. I'm really excited about it, actually. It won't be around until December (unless I get really ahead on my NaNoWriMo goals), but oohhhhh just get excited. All I'll say.**

**Please drop a review, even if this chapter was way too confusing? I know...hopefully it will get more linear next chapter. Thanks for your support, everyone!**

**Oh! And if you read Elemental, please go check out the poll on my page! **

**~Elsi**


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